


Your words

by sixiemelune



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Developmental Language Disorder, I cant believe this is not a tag what??, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Neurodivergent keith, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), anyways I was studying again, broganes, is this a fanfic acc or an educational acc???, klance but its neuroscience, neuroscience, who knows lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:06:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27565729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sixiemelune/pseuds/sixiemelune
Summary: Keith's never been good with words.
Relationships: Keith & Keith's Father (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 98





	Your words

**Author's Note:**

> I imagine this happening when Keith finds out about his Galra heritage & his relationship with Lance is still kind of rocky. happy reading :)

“Keith,” Shiro says softly. “What’s wrong?”

“I— _I…,_ ” the words lose themselves in his throat. He _knows_ what he wants to say, he just —

_“Has the child been in contact with nicotine during pregnancy?”_

_“No,” Keith’s father frowns. “Why?”_

_The doctor shrugs, “Being in contact with nicotine can trigger DLD. But it can be anything, honestly. If some genes are touched, a deficiency in thiamine.”  
_

“ _A deficiency of thiamine?”_

_“Lack of vitamin B.”_

_“What is that supposed to mean, Sir?” He raises his voice slightly. Keith’s dad never raises his voice._

_Keith tugs his dad’s coat, he doesn’t voice his worries. He doesn’t need to._

_His dad’s face breaks into a smile, “No need to worry, Keith. We’ll be alright.”_

“Keith, deep breaths,” Shiro says. His voice brings him back to reality, everything in front of him is blurry. “Look at me, _Keith_.”

_“As a baby, would he avoid eye contact?”  
_

_“Yes.”_

_“Had a hard time swallowing? Wouldn’t react to your voice?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“Hm.”_

_Keith tries to ignore how worried his dad looks._

He’s going to punch something. He’s angry, he’s so angry. He wants them to _know_ how angry he is. It hurts, it’s swallowing his insides.  
Shiro is still staring at him, Shiro reminds him of his dad. They had the same worried look when they took Keith to the doctor. The same questions. The same kind of love, the same words.

“Deep breaths, Keith.”

_“Does he voices his emotions with action?”  
_

_A pause. Keith wonders how silence can be so loud. His dad takes his hand, so Keith squeezes it, to reassure him.  
_

_His dad squeezes back.  
_

_“Yes.”  
_

_“Gets in a lot of fights, huh?”  
_

_“You…you could say that.”_

He grits his teeth. He wasn’t supposed to _be_ like that. He was supposed to grow out of it. That’s what the doctor said. He told his dad. He told Shiro too. Just that he was a later bloomer. Just that he was a —

_“Ah, Keith Kogane. Been a while. How’s your dad?”_

_“He’s dead.”_

_The doctor coughs, obviously uncomfortable. Shiro reaches for Keith’s small hand. His heart breaks. He’s too young for this. Too young._

“ _I am Keith’s legal guardian,” Shiro says. The doctor looks up to him and nods. “I’ve been told Keith has a developmental language disorder? Could you tell me more about it?”_

_Keith cringes. He’s not four anymore. He doesn’t want to hear it again. Ten years have passed, he should be over it._

_“Is that still a problem?” The doctor looks over to Keith, raising an eyebrow. “He should get over it soon. Most people grow out of the disorder.”_

_“And if he doesn’t?”_

_“He’ll have a hard time reading, or saying some some words. But I believe that wasn’t much of a problem? His phonetic is good, isn’t it?”_

_“It is,” Keith groans. He’s always hated that doctor. He’s always been insensitive, never cared about Keith as an individual. He was just another case. Just another patient.  
_

_Just another fucked up kid._

_“Then everything should be fine. Maybe, uh, a bit of difficulty in social adaptation. Do you have any friends, Keith?”_

_“No.”  
_

_“Maybe you should think about making some,” he says, smiling. Keith wants to punch him. Make friends? As if Keith hasn’t been trying to reach out to people since he was four. As if the prospect of making friends doesn’t terrify him. As if he isn’t more anxious about the idea of talking to people than flying an airplane. Yeah, he’ll think about_ making _friends.  
_

_“There’s also possibility that he develops some problems associated to his mental health,” continues the doctor, talking to Shiro._

“Keith,” Shiro says again, for what seems to be the thousand time. “What’s bothering you?”

He’s ashamed. And he wants to get out of here. He doesn’t want the team to notice _this._ They weren’t supposed to _know_ about it. He hates it, hates that part of him. Hates that he can’t use his words, that they just won’t _come_ to him no matter how much he reads, no matter how much he _begs_ them to be there.

“Shiro?”

Lance interrupts them, his voice is shy, as if he’s walking on eggshells. Keith’s never heard him use that voice, oh God, Lance thinks he’s pathetic.

“Uh, I used to do an exercise with Veronica,” he clears his throat. “When I couldn’t properly voice my feelings. And it would get all over the place. Maybe we could try it?”

_Oh._

“Are you okay with it, Keith?” Shiro asks.

“Yeah.” He swallows. “Sure.”

“Alright!” Lance smiles. He sits down next to Keith. “When you close your eyes and think about how you’re feeling, do you visualize a very strong storm, a tornado, or rain?”

“A…very strong storm?” He frowns.

“Okay great.” Lance smiles. But Lance always smiles with his eyes, gives everything of himself when he feels something. Keith thinks it makes him beautiful. “Where’s the eye of that storm?”  
When Keith looks at him with frowned eyebrows, Lance laughs. “It’s a lot of visualization. Ronnie was really into putting images for feelings. What I meant was, what do you think made you _feel_ that storm? What started it?”

“The Galras calling me a failed experiment,” he clears his throat. “And then…then you said something about me looking stupid and I know you didn’t mean it like that but — I, I don’t know.” That’s a lot of words. That’s too many words and he’s going to panic. He needs to stop talking. He’s not making sense, is he? _Is he?_ Lance is going to to think he’s stupid.

“Shit,” Lance says. Keith almost hears it, _you’re fucking stupid, Kogane._ “I’m really sorry, Keith.”

He looks up, _what?_

“I’m really sorry. I didn’t— No. Whatever, it wasn’t okay. I didn’t mean to hurt you and I’m sorry I did.”

“Thanks. It’s okay though. I knew you didn’t— well, anyways, thank you,” Keith says, almost relieved by Lance’s reaction. “I, uh, I guess I shouldn’t have snapped at you the way I did anyway.”

“That’s alright,” Lance laughs. “Friends?”

“Yeah,” he gulps, looking up at Shiro. His brother winks and he shoots him a glare. When he looks back to Lance, he smiles.

He looks away, ignoring the burn on his cheeks, “Hey Coran?”

Coran looks over to them, clearly pretending he wasn’t listening, “Yes Number Four?”

“I was wondering if you had paper I could borrow?” He swallows.

_“I got you something.”_

_“What?” He looks up, hisdad's smiling.  
_

_“A notebook. Here,” He tosses it toward him. Keith eyes it curiously but doesn’t touch it.  
_

_“Why?”  
_

_“Sometimes words aren’t enough but the images up here,” he taps Keith’s temples. “Sometimes they can talk for themselves.”_

“I need to draw,” he tells Coran. “It’s— it’s been a while.”

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> for your personal info: Developmental language disorder (DLD) usually doesn't follow a child through adulthood, it just slows down their progress at school since they have a hard time understanding what's being said to them/phrasing their thoughts. a child with DLD can have mental health problems in the future since his social skills were affected during childhood (couldn't communicate with friends/didn't know how to tell someone they wanted to be friends)
> 
> Kudos & comments are appreciated:)) I love reading your comments!!
> 
> Come say hi on [Twitter! ](https://twitter.com/sixiemelune)  
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